In the same way that we should always be wary of any aftershave that comes in a box covered in adjectival guff about freshness, masculinity or any “accordance” with the environment, so we should be suspicious of the scented candle. They have become a kind of default panacea, used to disguise the fact that the hotel lobby/hotel suite/day spa you’ve just walked into is barely fit for purpose.

Twenty years ago, if you were alerted to the smell of lemongrass if you wandered into a hotel, you’d immediately feel at ease, knowing that you were about to experience the kind of bespoke attention that in those days appeared to be the sole domain of the Aman group. These days, though, if you walked into anywhere and smelt lemongrass, you’d probably turn on your heels and walk as quickly as humanly possible in the opposite direction. Because lemongrass, like the amuse-bouche or entry-level massages in country house hotels, is now decidedly naff.

But that’s not to say that all scented candles are naff. Far from it. It’s just that we now expect them to work a bit harder. Not just in the way they smell, but also in terms of what they signify.

Which is why LO candles are so interesting. This British company is releasing nine different candles, with intriguing and esoteric names such as Unkempt Geisha, Being Little, Open Windows and Ember Remember. Tracy Longworth and Alan Aboud are the founders of LO Studio, an architect and creative director who have vast experience in design, presentation and content. They met through a mutual friend in the fashion business when Tracy was seeking a brand identity for her nascent candle range and the working relationship grew into a partnership which resulted in LO. Her starting point had been the death of her father, who used to make his own potions ion his workshop. The candle idea started as a way for her to honour him and so together she and Aboud started to design a range of smells that reflect their idiosyncratic birth – smells that remind you of a happy place.

Importantly, all LO candles are completely recyclable, using 100 per cent natural non-GM vegetable wax, which is fully sustainable, fully traceable and replenishable. Not only this, but they’re vegan (no animal fats or beeswax is used), working with organic essential oils, absolutes and resinoids and balsams, while their wicks are organic cotton and paper (without using tin or lead). The candle glass includes 20 per cent of recycled glass, the lids are 80 per cent recycled steel and the boxes use 80 per cent recycled paper. They do not test on animals and don’t include any herbicides or pesticides. They are non-GMO, with no parabens, no bleaches, dyes, palm oil, glues, binders, lead, tin, fragrance-enhancing chemicals or single-use plastics. Finally, the candles are hand-poured the traditional way by chandlers, not machines, in the UK.

All this aside, the reason GQ finds them so interesting is – shocker – because of how they smell. Trust us, these are not cookie-cutter candles and we think you’ll be blown away by them.